The confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, US President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, has been delayed beyond its planned April 16 date, CNBC reported.
The Senate Banking Committee will not hold the hearing next week as originally scheduled, a person familiar with the matter told the news channel on Thursday evening.
The immediate reason is procedural. The Senate Banking Committee has not yet received the required financial and ethics disclosure paperwork from Warsh — a standard prerequisite before any nomination hearing can proceed. The delay adds uncertainty to an already complicated process.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Thom Tillis has publicly declared he will not vote to confirm Warsh until a separate federal investigation into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell is resolved. Since the Senate Banking Committee has 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats, Tillis effectively holds the deciding vote.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune also has acknowledged that Warsh will "probably not" be confirmed without Tillis's support, CNBC reported. Democrats on the panel are also opposed, with senior Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren having called Warsh a "rubber stamp for Trump's Wall Street First Agenda."
The stakes are sharpened by a hard deadline. Powell's term as Fed Chair expires on May 15, 2026. If Warsh is not confirmed in time, Powell would remain in the role temporarily, an outcome that would leave monetary policy leadership unresolved at a particularly sensitive moment, with inflation still elevated in USA following the Iran war and global markets closely watching every signal from Washington.
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Trump nominated Warsh, 55, in January 2026. Warsh previously served as a Fed Governor under then President George W. Bush and is currently a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His confirmation was widely expected to be welcomed by markets given his prior central bank experience, but the path to the Senate floor is looking increasingly uncertain.
Warsh's nomination led to a plunge in gold and silver prices, with the latter logging in fall of more than 40% in January-end. The plunge was linked to Warsh's reputation as an "inflation hawk", who may hold rates and strengthen the dollar.
For Indian markets and the broader emerging market world, the identity and outlook of the next Fed Chair matters enormously. The Federal Reserve's decisions on interest rates directly influence the flow of foreign capital into economies, the value of the rupee against the dollar, and the cost of borrowing globally.
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